Cover for journal-boxes.



PATENTED MAY 14, 1907.

E. G. KINBERG. COVER FOR JOURNAL BOXES APPLICATION FILED JULY 27, 1906.

fNVE/VTOH W/ TNES3ES A TTORNE Y Tn: mmms PETERS co., wasmuarau. n. s

UNITED STATES PATENT onnron'.

. COVER FOR JOURNAL-BOXES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented. May 14, 1907.

Application filed July 27. 1906. Serial No. 323,021.

Journal-Boxes, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the reference characters marked thereon.

This invention has relation to covers for journal boxes, particularly such covers as .are employed in connection with journal boxes for railway ears to close the opening through which the packing and lubricatingmaterial are supplied to the box and journal, although the improved form of cover may be advantageously employed in connection with other forms of journal boxes wherever situated.

The object of my invention is to provide a simple, cheap, efficient and reliable cover for journal boxes which will be automatically held in perfect contact with the margin of the opening which it is intended to close, which may be easily opened and automatieally held in open position for the purpose of gaining access to the interior of the journal box, and which may be easily applied and removed whenever desirable or necessary.

To accomplish all of the foregoing object and to secure other and further advantages in the matters of construction, operation, application and use, my improvements involve certain new and useful relative arrangements or combinations of parts, peculiarities of construction and principles of operation, all of which will be herein first fully described and then pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification, I have shown. my improved form of cover as applied upon one of the ordinary forms of car axle journal boxes for the purpose of illustrating my invention and the principles on which it operates.

Figure 1 is a sectional elevation on a plane through the longitudinal axis of the box showing the cover in full lines in closed position. and in dotted lines in other positions. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the box and cover corresponding with Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an elevation of the spring actuating plunger disconnected from its position in the spring socket on the cover and from its bearing on the journal box. I

In all these figures like letters of reference,

wherever they occur, indicate corresponding arts.

P A represents a car axle journal box which may be of any approved form or construction and which stands in the place of any other journal box in connection with which my improvements may be advantageously employed in accordance with the purposes of my invention.

B is a cover for the front opening in the journal box, this being arranged, as are covers of other forms, to close the front opening in the journal box through which access is to be had from the exterior to the interior. The seats for these journal box covers are ordinarily made plain and slightly inclined, and the covers are ordinarily intended to fit upon or against these seats to exclude dust and other matters from the exterior; but these covers being usually hinged so as to turn upon stationary axes or hinge pins, materials accidentally lodged upon the seat effectually preclude close contact of the covers with the seats and therefore permit the passage of fine dust or grit into the interior of the box, which is detrimental and should be avoided.

Various means have been proposed for looking the ordinary forms of journal box covers in closed position, but these are liable to become loosened or disarranged and the cover thereby left to swing open, affording opportunity for dust and dirt to enter the box from the exterior.

To obviate the objections above referred to, I mount the cover so that it will swing in the desired directions but not around a stationary axis; and I supply the cover with a spring and means for operating the same to keep the cover constantly pressed against its seat or to hold it in open position according to the position to which it is adjusted.

O is a socket formed on the exterior of the cover or otherwise applied in connection therewith, the socket being preferably closed except for the opening at the top to receive the spring actuated plunger, and being arranged. parallel with the face of the cover. The lower portion of this socket forms a convenient part for the bearing of the yoke by f, formed on the yoke, this lug striking against which the cover is sustained and connected with the upper part of the jmurnal box. l) repi'esei'its this yoke, the same being contimlous and, rcacliilig from the l( wer part of the spring socket, aroinul the same and. aroul'id a projectiel'i, (1,, on the top of the box. This yoke slightly bent at its upper part, as in dicated, to a'll'm-d the desired. movements of the cover and. the desired action. of the spring in connection therewitl'i and to accoinnwdate itself to different positions of the parts without interference.

The coiled spring within the socket is represented at 1 3, and this is made sufficiently powerful to afford the requisite pressure on the cover. Upon the top of the spring is a plunger F, the same being preferably supplied with a neck, I), to enter the upper part of the coil of the spring and an enlargement, c, to properly fit the interior, of the spring socket to exclude dust and dirt therefrom and to bear upon the top of the spring, and is provided with a head, (if, extending upon both sides of the axis of the plunger, the head being arranged to bear in a recess formed in the front of the projection a on the journal box. The bearing for the yoke on the bottom of the socket and that for the plunger against the projection a are each sufficiently recessed to prevent accidental disengagement of the parts after they have been properly assembled and the bearing for the yoke on the cover is located at about the middle of the cover. The front of the projection a. is recessed, as at d, to accommodate the shank of the plunger when the cover is swung up to its'limit or fully opened position. The limit of the swing of the cover in an up ward' direction is determined by a short lug,

the top ofthe box when the cover is swung up to its limit.

At g is a simple form of finger piece applied upon the lower part of the cover to facilitate opening it when necessary, but this may be replaced by any other suitable projection.

The cover, with its appliances thus constructed and arranged, is mounted in place by simply hooking the top of the yoke back of the projection a and then forcing the head of the plunger down over the front of the projection. This movement will compress the spring sufficiently to enable the head ofthe plunger to enter the recess provided for it in the projection. Being so applied, the spring presses always in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the socket, and this being inclined, or forming an angle with rpspec t to yoke (the plane through the upper and lower parts of the yoke) one component of the force acts in a direction perpendicular to the face of the cover and therefore holds the cover always against its seat so long as the spring pressure is not overcome. As before indicated, the spring is made of ample strengtl'i for the purposes intended, and it should hold the cover in. closed position against any possibility of (lisarrangelnent by jolting or jarrii'ig or other ordinary use to which it may be subjected.

When the cover is swung open, as it may be by application of the hand. to its lower part, it does not swing on a statioiiary axis as on an ordii'u-iry hinge pin but l'i'ioves in the yoke as constrained by the pressure of the plunger against the projection on the top of the box, and thus it turns about a variable or movable axis. In swinging from the closed position to the intermediate position indicated. by dotted lines in Fig. 1, wherein the bottom of the yoke, the head of the plunger and the top of the yoke are in the same straight line, the tendency of the spring to close the door becomes less and less powerful until the cover reaches this neutral or intermediate position, where the tendency to close it is zero. Passing by this intermediate position, the tendency of the spring is to further swing the cover in the direction of the opening movement. Reaching the uppermost position, indicated by. the dotted lines in Fig. 1, the cover is held fully opened by one com ponent of the force of the spring (then acting in a direction opposite that previously referred to) so that the interior of the box may be easily reached. To again close the cover, it has only to be forced downward until it swin s past the intermediate position,when it wil automatically close under the action of the spring. The limit of the upward 'swing'of the cover is determined by the lug f striking against the boX, as before indicated. The power required to lift the cover from the closed to the neutral position constantly diminishes as the cover swings, which renders it easy to open the cover. To detach the cover, it is only necessary to force its outer margin up sufficiently so that the head of the plunger will ride out of the recess provided for it'in the top of the box.

From the foregoing explanations it will be understood that the cover is firmly and accurately seated at all times when down and that it approaches its seat by a movement substantially parallel thereto rather than by a movement around a fixed axis, being freely movable upon the supporting part of the yoke, so that any obstruction at one point to its perfect seating will not interfere with its perfect seating at other points; and the spring acting at the middle part of the cover which ismovable with respect to the sustaining yoke, forces the cover to its seat with power equal at all oints of contact.

' Being constructe and arranged substantially in accordance with the foregoing eX- planations, the. improvements will be found to admirably answer all the purposes or ob jects of the inventionhereinbefore alluded to.

Having now fully described my invention,

what I claim as new herein and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with a journal box, of a cover therefor, a removable yoke for connecting the cover and box, said cover being engaged With the yoke at about the middle part of the cover and arranged to swing upon and with the yoke, and a spring and cooperating plunger for automatically holding the cover 'both in closed position and in opened position, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. In combination with a journal box, a cover therefor, a spring parallel with the plane of the cover, a plunger operating in connection with the spring, and a removable swinging yoke for connecting the cover with name to this specification in the presence of 30 two subscribing witnesses.

ERIC GUSTAF KINBERG.

Witnesses:

C. SEDGWIOK, J. M. HOWARD. 

